By Richard Fausset
Los Angeles Times
ATLANTA – A test of the massive super-skimming ship sent to the Gulf of Mexico to help with the oil cleanup is “inconclusive” because of choppy seas in deep waters, a spokesman for the ship’s owner said Monday.
The modified oil tanker A Whale cruised near the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, some 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, over the weekend, when rough seas kept many of the smaller skimming boats in port. But skimming, by either a small vessel or a large one, apparently requires calmer waters.
In a statement Monday, Bob Grantham, a spokesman for the super-skimmer’s owner, TMT Shipping Offshore, said results remained “inconclusive in light of the rough sea state we are encountering.”